Can opener



M. J. LA FORTE 2,889,620

CAN OPENER Filed Jan. 14, 1958 JNVENTOR MICHAEL J. LA FORTE ATTYSQ United States CAN OPENER Michael J. La Forte, Park Ridge, 111., assignor to Vaughan Mfg. Co., Chicago, 111., a corporation "of Illinois Application January 14, 1958, Serial No. 708,877 4 Claims. (CI. 30-15) My invention relates to an improved manual type can opener. In Patent No. 1,617,148 issued February 8, 1927 to R. T. Chase, entitled Can Opener, a hand-held opener having a bayonet type blade is described, which has met with great financial success and which has been very satisfactory in use. That opener, however, is improvable both from the point of view of successfulness and ease of operation and of manufacturing cost, and the opener here described represents such an improvement thereover. The instant opener incorporates a principle of operation new to the field of can opener design as far as I know, which results in greater ease of operation, a cleaner cut, and better control over the sheared metal edge on the inside of the can, all of these advantages accruing from a structural change which reduces materially the cost of manufacturing the opener.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following description and drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the outside face of an opener embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof taken from the right side of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan View;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the inside face of the opener; and

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the opener taken from the left side of Fig. 1 and showing the opener as applied to a can.

The illustrated opener includes a body member formed of an elongated blank. The body member is offset midway of its length as at 12 to divide the member into a blade carrier 14 and a driving wheel mount 16 offset outwardly from the blade carrier. The free end of the driving wheel mount is bent over inwardly at a 90 angle to define a rail 18. Centrally of the driving wheel mount, a large diameter bore 20 is provided. A winged handle 22 having a flat central stem 24 mounts successively, toward the handle, a driving Wheel 26 on the inside face of the wheel mount, contained between the rail 18 and the offset 12, a flat bearing 28 contained rotatably in the bore 20 and a washer 30 on the outside surface of the driving wheel mount. The three members are slotted to receive the stem 24 of the handle and the end of the stem is peened over as at 32 to secure the driving wheel and its driving handle to the driving wheel mount.

The body member blank includes a tongue 34 extending from the driving wheel mount beside the blade carrier 14 on the trailing edge of the opener body relative to the direction of movement of an opener on a can which is bent over inward at right angles to the driving wheel carrier on the same line as the offset 12 and parallel to the bend defining the rail 18, to project inwardly therefrom and constitute a can bead guide.

The blade carrier portion 14 is offset inwardly from the driving wheel mount by the offset 12 and has a bayonet type cutting knife 36 pivotally secured to the inside Patented June 9, 19 59 thereof by rivet 38. The blade carrier extends above the point of attachment of the blade to the blade carrier as at 40.

' As thus far described, the opener is generally similar to that in the patent mentioned above. The operation of this opener is likewise similar. The blade is moved to be crosswise relative to the body of the opener (Fig. 1) and the opener is applied to a can 42 to locate the upper edge of the bead 44 of the can against the offset 12 and the can bead guide 34, the driving wheel lying under the can bead and the rail 18 bearing against the side 46 of the can below the driving wheel. The blade is then pivoted until the entering point 48 bears hard against the can top 50 immediately inside the bead 44. The pressure of the entering point 48 on the can top elevates the driving wheel 26 into driving engagement with the underside of the bead 44 of the can and the forward thrust of the opener upon turning the handle pivots the blade further around to eifect penetration of the can top. Continued movement of the opener after such penetration serves first to swing the blade further about to a vertical position at which point it encounters a stop. Thereafter, the blade is fixed in relation to the rest of the opener and moves with the opener, the leading bevelled or cutting edge 52 serving to shear progressively through the can top as the opener moves about the can.

The opener of the present invention differs in many material respects from the conventional opener within this general description. In order to appreciate fully these differences, however, certain defects of the conventional opener should be first considered.

The blade of the conventional opener has characteristically been formed of metal plate of substantially the same thickness as the material of which the body of the opener has been made. The blade is, for all practical purposes, rigid and inflexible. In order, then, that the blade be capable of accommodating variations in the thickness, clearance must be provided between the inside of the driving wheel mount and the cutting edge of the blade to accommodate the greatest likely bead thickness to be encountered. This is provided in two Ways. The offset is made sufliciently great to meet all normal bead sizes and the riveted attachment of the blade to the blade carrier is loose to accommodate excessive bead width.

The relatively thick blade is responsible for several difficulties both in the manufacture and the operation of the opener. If the blade is to be a simple stamping, the very blunt edge thereof will make driving the opener around the top of the can an unnecessarily difficult operation. This can be answered by sharpening the bevelled edge 52 of the blade, but this involves an additional manufacturing step which, of course, adds to the expense of the opener.

A ragged cut edge on the inside of the can is avoided first by the use of the rail 18 which tilts the opener inwardly or the cutting edge of the opener outwardly to mash the bead side of the can top cut against the wall of the can. In order that this flattening of the outside of the can top out be performed adequately, it is necessary that the blade bear firmly enough against that part of the can top to crush it down. Obviously, if it is going to perform eifectively in this context, it is going to be very difficult to move the opener past an enlargement of the bead such as, for instance, occurs where the side seam of the can enters the head. If, on the other hand, the opener will traverse the bead easily at this point of swelling, the flattening and smoothing of the inside edge of the can will not be certain.

My invention involves the use of a blade formed of relatively thin metal which is intended to be normally flexed in the course of operation instead of the heavier, inflexible ,blade. Such a blade successfully avoids the difliculties of the rigid type by a deliberate introduction of flexure.

The blade 36 as illustrated in the drawings is shown to be of a thickness materially less than the thickness of the blank which constitutes the body and. the illustrated proportions of thickness are those which I have determined to be well suited to the practice of my invention.

Additionally, in the practice of my invention, I provide a boss 56 extending from the inside of the offset 12 and obtained by dimpling the exterior of the offset as at 58 (Fig. 4). The boss 56 is situated to bear against the upper outer corner of the can bead 44 directly 0pposite the point at which the can top is sheared by the cutting edge 52 of the blade 36. The dimple 58 will, of course, be formed in the body blank by the same die as that which stamps out the blank and forms the otfset 12 and the other characteristics thereof. The effect of these modifications of the previously known opener are substantial. The thin blade results in an easy penetration and easy shearing of the metal of the can top. Parenthetically, it should be noted that even if the thicker blade is bevelled so as to provide a sharper cutting edge, the slope of the cutting edge with respect to its line of travel to substantial thickness means that the metal of the can top must be distorted with attendant added difficulty of operation to accommodate the full thickness of the blade adjacent the penetrating point 48. The thinner blade, therefore, provides for easier operation and a smooth cut.

The boss 58 is provided to hold the bead of the can forcibly against the blade so as to bend the blade. The bent blade and the resilient pressure of the blade resulting from the bend achieves a properly flattened and smoothed edge of the open can under conditions of unusual thinness of head as well as under conditions of average or greater than average thickness. The bent blade makes possible a provision of zero can wall clearance between the blade and driving wheel 26 since the desired and necessary clearance can be obtained by flexure rather than a spacing built in by the manufacture of the opener.

The flexible blade permits a ready passage of the opener over bead portions of abnormal thickness (and over can side seams) with virtually no noticeable increase in difficulty of operation.

Can openers of this general type are made in many millions of units. Costs, which would appear to be insignificant as applied to any single opener, become matters of major interest in production of such numbers. The use of the thinner blade elfects an appreciable saving of metal and money.

7 Finally, it was stated before that a certain looseness is deliberately provided in the attachment of the previously known rigid blade to the blade carrier 40. A loose and rattling part gives the impression to the consumer of defective manufacture whether or not that is actually the case. The opener of my invention permits an attachment of the blade to the blade carrier which is not loose and will not rattle. Since the flexibility of the blade is employed to meet variations in the thickness of can beads, and not the looseness of the blade on the attaching rivet 38, the rattling can be avoided and an opener made which does not convey the impression of sloppy manufacture.

, It is, of course, essential that the blade be prohibited from swinging rearwardly past the vertical position illustrated in Fig. 5. To this end, the portion 40 of the blade carrier which extends above the point of mounting of the blade to the carrier by the rivet 38 has been formed to extend outwardly at its upper leading corner well beyond the corner 63 illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawings, and an inwardly bent-over stop is provided on this portion to check the pivotal movement of the blade and to hold the blade in can top shearing position.

In the present invention, I have achieved this provision of a stop for the blade with a substantial saving of metal, simplification of dies and a more pleasing, simple and tasteful design. I have achieved this by widening the can bead guide 34 toward the longitudinal center line of the body 10 as compared with the can bead guide of the opener illustrated in the patent. The widening of the guide puts the inner edge 62 thereof in a position to meet the trailing corner 64 of the blade when the blade is in its proper top shearing position and hold the blade in this position. As stated, the can bead guide is thus made to serve a double function with an attendant improvement in design and very material saving of metal.

It will be evident from the foregoing description that I have described an embodiment only of my invention and that the subject matter thereof may be practiced in different ways still falling within the purview of my concept. I, therefore, desire that my invention be regarded as being limited only as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A bayonet type can opener comprising a body member having a blade carrying portion, a driving wheel mounting portion and an offset offsetting said driving wheel portion outwardly from the plane of said blade carrying portion, a driving wheel rotatably mounted against the inside face of said driving wheel mounting portion adapted to engage the underside of the head of a can, means for driving said driving wheel, a relatively thin flexible blade pivotaliy secured to said blade mounting portion, means on said body to limit the movement of said blade beyond a substantially vertical, can-top-shearing position, said blade having a cutting edge extending across the plane of a can top when said driving wheel is engaged with the bead thereof, and a boss on the inside surface of said olfset and opposite said blade in can-topcutting position, engageable with the upper outside edge of a can bead to hold said can away from said offset to impose a bend on said blade when engaged with said can top inside said bead.

2 A bayonet type can opener comprising a body member having a blade carrying portion and a driving Wheel mounting portion offset outwardly from said blade carrying portion, a driving wheel rotatably mounted against the inside face of said driving wheel mounting portion, means on the outer face of said driving wheel mounting portion for driving said driving wheel, a guide rail ex tending inwardly from said driving wheel mounting portion adapted to engage the side of a can to maintain said body member at a given upward and inward tilt with respect to said can, a blade including a cutting edge pivotally secured to said blade carrying portion in face-toface relation therewith for movement to and from a can top severing position wherein said cutting edge overlaps said driving wheel, a can head engaging guide extending inwardly from said driving Wheel mounting portion on the trailing edge thereof relative to the direction of movement of the opener on a can, said guide having a forward edge against which a rear edge of said blade bears when said blade is in said severing position, and means adapted to bear against the bead of a can to hold said can away from said opener to impose a curvature on said blade in said can top severing position on a can.

3. A ibayonet type can opener comprising a body member having a blade carrier and a driving wheel mount offset from said blade carrier, a driving wheel rotatably mounted against the inside face of said driving wheel mount, means for turning said driving wheel, a relatively thin flexible bayonet type blade having a lower can-topshearing edge pivotally mounted to said blade carrier for movement to a position where said edge laps over said wheel, means for inhibiting movement of said blade rearwardly of said position relative to the direction of travel of said opener on a can, and a projection on said body member in the area of said offset and opposite said blade to hold a can away from said offset to impose a bend on said blade.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 3 wherein said inhibiting means comprises a can head guide extending inwardly from said body member on the general line of said ofiset and rearwardly of said blade relative to the direction of travel of the opener on a can, said guide having a forward edge against which a rear edge of said blade abuts when said blade is in said position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

